My dad, Kevin J. Bowers (1922-2019) is pictured here with his B-24 bomber crew at the USAAF base near Cherignola in southern Italy, October 1944. (Dad is crouching, second from right.) At 22, he was the oldest man in the crew. He was also physically the smallest--so he became the ball turret gunner, because he could most easily fit inside the tiny hatch and cramped quarters of the ball turret on the bomber's underside, armed with twin .50-caliber Browning machine guns. He admitted being "scared to death," but he did it anyway, because "Hitler was a monster and had to be defeated." He liked to think he played a small part in the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Introduction
I open this diary with the realization that it may never be completed and that if it is completed has every possibility of being burned. I have seen enough of this war to know that I shall never wish to remember it - in fact, I shall do my utmost to forget it. I don't think I will ever completely forget, but I hope that the vividness of the details will fade.
I'm writing this record merely as an outlet. I really should tell my tales to someone, but al around here would laugh at me - or would have seen the same thing as I did - or both.